He made it into Dalek Shorts.

See? Silly Ronnie.

Anyway, good to have you back Alexus. Shame to hear you enjoyed the episode though.

MMM, Indeed. Welcome back.

Shame to hear you didn't, as obviously I consider my opinion to be gospel truth, unlike humble Danny :P

Have you read my review? :P

I mean honestly... if there were only three or four major things wrong with it, I'd let other people like it. But with this many things wrong with it, I shudder to hear about other people even watching it, let alone what television taste would let people enjoy it. :(

Thing is, I didn't see those things as things being wrong with it.

Just mentally challenged?

What a charming sentiment.

Don't talk to my friend like that! He disagrees so he's mentally challenged? You know who else thought like that?.. Oh yes. Hitler!

Hehe, I've opened a can of worms.

Apparently you didn't read it. It was long. And while some things may be arguable, some things just plain aren't. :rolleyes:

I read the whole thing and disagreed with all of it except the thing about how the Master got from Futurekindland to Utopia. Although, the TARDIS does have some conventional flight capability.

Wow. Mm. Okay then. Well at least I took the time to write out my thoughts. Care to provide an equally long rebuttal to my review?

And as for the TARDIS's conventional flight capability, yes, of course it does -- but the Doctor sabotaged it when he locked it between two locations. :rolleyes:

Alright, I'll do a rebuttal. I might find I agree with more than one point, but I don't think it was many.

Oh, and the Doctor says the TARDIS can only travel between "The year 100 trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed, which is right here, right now." He specifies time for the first, but time AND space for the second. Since he only had a few seconds, allowing the Master only one escape planet but allowing him free reign in 100 trillion makes sense - after all, what is there in the end of the universe? Billions of willing soldiers waiting to murder their relatives? That's impossible! :P

A 3673 word review is just off the top of your head? Holy shit :confused:

I think it was very necessary. All the characters have changed in that year, and a year is long enough for the Master to put in place a regime that frankly shouldn't have been allowed on TV at 7pm. Jack is grimy and seems to be constantly executed, the Joneses are indentured servants. A very effective scene was where the Master demands Francine say sorry for trying to overthrow him, and she screams it out through gritted teeth as if she'd trying not to break down weeping; that year has changed them all. Especially Martha.

In the Middle Ages they didn't have any form of media that wasn't either books no one could read or shouting. They also had this 'Jesus' bloke, he was pretty well known by about a quarter of the world's population. Word of mouth is a very powerful thing indeed: just look at the spread of religion.

I thought the portrayal was just as good, but that's only my opinion. To the second point, that is the whole point of this incarnation of the Master. He's completely apeshit bonkers, and he seems to be doing a lot of things just for the sake of doing them - because it's fun. Have you never danced around to a song like an idiot when you're alone? As RTD says in the Confidential Ep, the Master is like a teenager in his bedroom. Also, got to stress the point again that he's utterly, utterly insane.

Delgado was a good Master indeed, and it's terrible he died at such an early age.

Makes sense to me. They're slaves to a madman who has burned whole countries for a giggle, and they have no one else to talk to. Eventually they're going to iron out their differences over some cold mashed swede and murder-plotting, or go mad.

I was confused at first, and then thought "Woah." After all, Time Lords can live for thousands of years, but they have to regenerate every 400 or so (i.e. Doctor 1) so they don't conk out. Suspend those regenerations, and you basically have a 1,000 year old William Hartnell, and if he wouldn't look like a cross between Gollum and a walnut, I don't know what would. Also - the Doctor isn't human. Important thing to remember when he survives having all his blood drained (I really don't get that myself) or being stabbed in the heart but managing to restart it (after being STABBED?)

Also, it is consistent with the Master's program of Doctor-torture by making him helpless and then forcing him to watch the end of the world. Make the Doctor the Gallifreyan version of a parrot in a cage, it's going to hurt him.

She needed a way to persuade Doherty that the gun was real, and since she's a member of 'the Resistance' she must have resources.

However, you're not a casual viewer or a six year old. Is Johnny Scoggins, age 10, going to remember every plot point from TSOD? I doubt it. Also, only one of said flashbacks was as long as you say. I didn't see any recycled lines that weren't used for dramatic effect.

I found it dark and unremittingly bleak. The Doctor, with so much faith in Humanity, is always saying how wonderful we are, and the show has always been optimistic about mankind, and it turns out they become these things? It was a very effective move in my opinion, much better than my thought that the Toclafane were the trapped souls of Time Lord children.

It would still be a Parodox if they did that as it would be changing history and thus their past, and doing that wouldn't hurt the Doctor as much, which is something the Master desired very much.

They've "cannibalised themselves" in a desperate attempt to survive. Like the Cybermen with the emotional inhibitors, how else could you stay 'sane' after becoming a head in a ball other than making your mind simple enough that you didn't care?

I think you've forgotten what utter shits little children can be, if you actually honestly think that.

1. Master goes back to mid 2006, meets Lucy, marries her, establishes his identity, becomes a person of some importance (with his normal hypnosis, maybe?) helps with Archangel, is elected first in by-elections and becomes Minister of Defence.

2. Master travels 100 trillion years into the future to Utopia, persuades the brutalised Humans who destroyed what they were to survive the end of the universe to travel back with him and... destroy what they are to survive the end of the universe. Travels back to 21st century Earth 1 minute after he left.

3. Master becomes PM, takes over world.

4. Master takes Lucy to Utopia, shattering her mind. This explains the character change between TSOD and LOTTL.

Professor Yana knew that Utopia was a load of bollocks. The Master therefore knew it was bollocks. He needed allies to kill Earth, he knew the humans would do anything to survive, he put two and two together and got 1337. After all, he's much more intelligent than you. Or me. Or anyone, in fact. He's a genius. Also insane. He's got a mind like an Escher painting.

The Doctor says the TARDIS can only travel between "The year 100 trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed, which is right here, right now." He specifies time for the first, but time AND space for the second. Since he only had a few seconds, allowing the Master only one escape planet but allowing him free reign in 100 trillion makes sense - after all, what is there in the end of the universe? It's a dump. That line I think is open enough for interpretation.

I'd assume that the guy with the booming voice who kept telling people to 'rejoice' and addressed the people of the Earth was like, addressing the people of the Earth. The countdown was probably announced by him, and the date of War was probably announced earlier. The Master does love a good gloat, after all. Also, Martha could have guessed as to when the fleet was ready by observing all those shipyards, unless she was just doing it to help compile "Jane's All the World Death Rockets."

When first watching the episode, I thought "WTF", and after 30 seconds realised what a great plan it was. I thought it made perfect sense - after all, the Master has made a psychic field that binds the whole human race together broadcasting a signal that keeps people scared (as Doherty explains earlier). The series has already discussed the power of words in The Shakespeare Code, and this was a wonderful way to bring that back. Also, the whole idea of faith in the Doctor rejeuvenating him is so optimistic and hopeful, I can't help but be uplifted by it. This is the sort of message kids should be getting in television (adults, too, TBH) The Doctor uses his enemy's weapon against him in a way the Master hadn't even thought of.

Oh, and it was probably less than 5 billion, since Martha couldn't have told the whole world and the Master also probably killed more than 1.7 billion people in his tenure as Lord of the Earth.

It's the end of the world, you live 100 to a house, and you're unable to escape. This hot chick waltzes past the Toclafane and the security patrols, she's got to have some kind of power. Also, don't forget she's a member of the alluded-to Resistance, meaning people would give her words some weight anyway. I'd also be willing to bet that after a year of genocide that outstrips the Holocaust hundreds of times over, you'd be willing to try anything for just that tiny iota of hope.

The State of Grace was mentioned what, two times in the Classic Series? Tha Classic Series which then ignored it, for example Earthshock when Cyber guns work fine in the TARDIS. It's not a flaw, because the State of Grace no longer exists. See: Earthshock, Invasion of Time (I think) and Parting of the Ways.

Except it is. Even if the Toclafane went back to somewhere else, they'd still be rewriting the history of the universe and thus, however subtly, altering the fundamental fact of their existence. Just because you don't understand something doesn't mean it's a fault with the writing!

True, it is a reset button. However, sometimes the only way to deal with having built up a huge threat is to have it removed. It's a sad fact of sci-fi writing. If you think the reset button should never be used in DW, did you also hate The Doctor Dances? That has a reset button at the end - "Just this once, Rose, everybody lives!" We NEED that sort of optimism after a series of brilliant but dark Battlestar Galactica. 2 resets in 41 episodes seems good to me.

She was?

And?

Except for the look of disgust after he kisses her, the look of unhappiness as she hands him his coat like a servant, the look of betrayal as he is massaged by another woman, the (offscreen) reaction to his suggestion of a threesome, and the shiner under her right eye. Yes, otherwise, they had a lovely relationship :)

Also, she's made utterly nihilistic and probably doolally by his showing her the end of creation. Hence the strange behaviour? Unless, of course, RTD put it in for no reason because he secretly hates Doctor Who.

I for one was watching Lucy throughout most of her scenes (mainly because I want to take her home and cuddle her all night) and it's very clear what her character is thinking, and why she switches sides. Harold Saxon, her Harry, who was so good to her father and literally promised her the world, starts to ignore her, beat her up, and cheat on her with other women. Oh, and he makes her go mad.

Romana II, Destiny of the Daleks. She decides to regenerate, and picks the form of Lalla Ward (woohoo!) after some deliberation.

I had no idea the Master would die, and I found that whole scene very moving. The reconciliation never happened before for 2 reasons. 1, old Who was less emotional, and 2, in old Who the Master wasn't the only other Time Lord. Imagine you wiped out the whole Human race to defeat an enemy who survived anyway, and after decades you meet another Human who survived. No matter who it is, you'll be ecstatic just to be with someone else like you. For the Doctor to know that a Time Lord survived his inferno, even of he is a Grade A Bastard, must have been a very hope-inspiring moment. When he cradles the Master's broken body and weeps, I thought Tennant was superb and the whole scene made sense to me.

How do you know he'll return, by the way?

Because you are a Time Lord yourself, and you know about their death rituals.

That scene was put in for future production teams who might want to bring back the Master. I'm not a big fan of it myself, but if it means more Master one day, I think I'll live with it.

I've got a theory - the earlier Masters only heard it occasionally, but when he was Yana the vortex/Master madness increased the drumming to try and remind him of who he was, and when he was John Simm it continued in that fashion.

Not an Eric Roberts fan, then? :P

Seems to be a symptom of the overstretched budget to me. TARDIS sets are expensive.

Re: 1st point

DOCTOR: Do you wanna die?
JACK: This one's a little stuck.
DOCTOR: Jack.
JACK: I thought I did. I dunno. But this lot... you see them out here surviving... and that's fantastic.

Re: 2nd point

JACK: I had plenty of time to think that past year. The year that never was. And I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor; responsibilities. (Also, big paychecks and top billing in my own 13 part series)

So do I, but it's not a fault with the episode but with JB wanting his own career. Shocking.

So she should stay with the unattainable? "Some things are worth getting your heart broken for." That's all well and good for Sarah Jane, she's over the hill, but Martha is a hot sexy 25 year old. She can't hang around with a man as gorgeous and charismatic as David Tennant and not get any love in return. She has to get out and make her own life. Anyway, she's returning. (FYI it's being rumoured she's pregnant)

I must stress this: changes to the series format made by general consenus of the actors and production team are not the fault of this episode. RTD didn't just write the thing, writing people out as he went.

Her parents work as slaves for an insane sadist for a year. They watch the islands of Japan burning and 'half the world' slaughtered. Yeah, they'll get over it.

I want more Martha too, but once again it's not a fault with the episode in question.

Well, I liked it. I hate to be a grumpy guts, but it's pretty ****ing obvious they'll explain how the Titanic got through the TARDIS and into its dimension. That's probably the reason for the "What?" I liked it, and I thought it was a fun reuse of last year's.

Seven million people don't seem to give a toss, and neither does the director of BBC drama. Technically, Danny, you're not allowed opinions on BBC programming, as you're not British and thus don't pay the licence fee :P

To paraphrase Horatio Nelson, "I see no plotholes." I thoroughly enjoyed this episode, and I am looking forward to the next series. However, it is clear that RTD might be starting to run low on ideas (3 great finales in a row can't be followed by a 4th) and I'm hoping that he gets some help from Moffat or Cornell with the next.

Things I liked about this episode, off the top of my head.

The bleakness of the Master's regime. Billions dead, at 7.05pm on a Saturday?
Those shipyards. Great CGI.
Milligan. He's a likeable character.
The Toclafane. "We made ourselves so pretty." Brrr.
The Master. Everything about that performance hit the spot for me.
Lucy. *sigh* Lucy...
The Joneses.
Martha being an action girl. Woo!
The scale of the thing. 200,000 multi-kilometre long rockets? Now that's a good start.
The resolution, the Doctor flying, the Doctor's message to the Master.
Everyone chanting the Doctor's name.
The music.
David Tennant. I want to give him a nice cup of tea and a pat on the back for just existing.
The Master's death.
The Titanic, silly as it was. Roll on Christmas!

Phew, that character limit is a pain :P

I've got an explanation for the drumming in the Master's head, he said "ever since he was a child, he heard the drumming", as Yana, he said that "he had been found as a naked child". My thought is, the young Master we saw, was actually the reborn Master (you know, when the Time Lords brought him out of the Eye of Harmony, remember, Bruce's body couldn't sustain him, it's only right he would gain a new one). And it was the "reborn Master" that stared into the Time Vortex.